


All I Want For Christmas Is You

by BuckyWithTheGoodHair86



Category: Agent Carter (TV), Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Artist Steve Rogers, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Romance, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Peggy Carter as Captain America, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Snowed In, Steggy Secret Santa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-12 23:15:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28643544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BuckyWithTheGoodHair86/pseuds/BuckyWithTheGoodHair86
Summary: Peggy has been working hard with the Avengers lately, and she's really been looking forward to her date with Steve. When a snowstorm cancels their plans, Steve still wants to make the night special and gets creative. Fluff ensues, and it turns out to be a very memorable Christmas season after all.
Relationships: Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers
Comments: 18
Kudos: 37





	All I Want For Christmas Is You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [amanda-lore](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=amanda-lore).



> So, this story is part of what may one day become a larger AU. In which Peggy is Captain America, frozen and woken up in the modern day and fighting alongside the Avengers; and Steve is Skinny Steve, a comic book artist who turns her adventures into graphic novels. They're already a couple at this point, and our story unfolds a few days before Christmas as they get ready for a break from work to enjoy the holidays together. It's even snowing.
> 
> (Thanks to roboticonography for the Christmas Alligator, which makes a brief cameo.)

* * *

Steve maneuvered up the icy steps to Peggy's apartment as quickly and carefully as he could without falling or losing his grip on the canvas shopping bags he was carrying. He knew Peggy wasn't going to be home for a little while yet, but he also knew she didn't mind if he came over early. She usually left for missions without much notice, and Steve liked to come over before she was supposed to come home and clean up a little bit for her. He'd never been on a mission, but coming home from a trip and having to do laundry and the dishes sucked, and he imagined it would even more so if your 'trip' had involved physical combat or life-threatening aliens or robots or whatever the hell she was up against with the rest of the Avengers. She insisted he didn't have to do it, but he liked being able to help her out. And he liked just being there to see her when she came home—she had a dangerous job, and just because she was the toughest person he'd ever met, it didn't keep him from worrying.

It was still kind of thrilling, having his own key to her apartment, but the thrill was overpowered today by how nice it felt just to get inside. It had been snowing all day, and he was pretty sure it had gotten even colder on the short walk from the subway to her apartment. He had wrapped his scarf up around the lower half of his face to keep his nose warm, which kind of worked, but it fogged up his glasses. It made it a little easier on his asthma, though, and you had to pick your battles. Frozen fingers fumbled with the key for a little bit, and then he was in, shutting the door quickly behind him. He flipped on the lights, set his bags down, moved to crank up the thermostat from where it had been resting at sixty, then stood in front of the vent for a little while until he could feel his fingers again.

Once he'd warmed up a little, he hung up his coat and scarf, then headed for the bathroom. He got her hamper and started the laundry, then loaded all the dishes into the sink. It was about time for the news, so he flipped the TV on to watch while he washed the dishes—maybe there would be some footage of the Avengers from earlier today. Peggy had texted to say it was over, but according to Twitter, there had been a hell of an explosion in the Everglades this morning.

Most of the news seemed to focus on the weather, much to Steve's annoyance. The fact that it was cold and snowing didn't feel like it warranted this much attention when he could gather as much by looking out the window. They were still talking about cold fronts when the dishes were done, and it wasn't until he was halfway through the dough for the cinnamon sugar cookies that they started talking about other news. (He would normally have been working on something for dinner, but they were supposed to be going out to eat.)

None of the anchormen seemed entirely sure what had gone down in the Everglades—there wasn't much footage of what had evidently been some sort of mad scientist's lair in the swamp before it blew up. Most of the footage had focused on the swamp monsters attacking Miami and the Avengers fighting them back, and Steve was able to catch several glimpses of Peggy in the middle of all of that. Some brave and/or foolish reporter had attempted to follow the team deeper into the swamp to confront the mad scientist himself, and while the reporter hadn't been fast enough to keep up with them, they _did_ manage to get a spectacular shot of the scientist attempting to disappear into the swamp and being knocked from his hovercraft because Peggy threw an alligator at him. Steve had to pause that and rewatch it a couple of times to make sure he actually saw that right. But, yeah, there was Peggy running into the swamp, scooping her hand down into the water and coming up with an alligator's tail in her hand. It was hard to say who looked more surprised—the alligator finding itself airborne or the scientist who was unexpectedly struck in the face with a six-hundred-pound reptile.

Steve laughed and shook his head and got up to put the laundry in the dryer.

The cookies had just come out of the oven and Steve had just started with cleaning up the baking dishes when he heard the latch turning on the door. "Steve?" Peggy called, stepping inside.

"Hey, Peggy!" he said, drying his hands on a dish towel and stepping out of the kitchen. "You're back early." He hadn't been expecting her for another hour. "Everything okay?" She didn't look hurt, but it was kind of hard to tell under all the mud.

"It is," she declared. "Wonderful, in fact, seeing you, although I was hoping I would beat you here." She set her shield down on the tile leading to the kitchen, where a puddle of swamp mud and sleet quickly began forming beneath it.

"Oh?" Steve said.

She pulled off her boots and set them by her shield before stepping farther into the apartment. Her feet were incongruously pink and clean in comparison to her muddy uniform. "I wouldn't have minded the chance to clean up first—I can't exactly hug you in this state."

"As long as you're home safe, I don't care," Steve told her, stepping forward with his arms open.

She flashed him that soft little smile that he loved so much, but held up a hand to ward him off. "Trust me," she said. "You don't want to smell like this for the rest of the evening." She leaned forward to give him a quick kiss. "But I _am_ glad to see you, darling."

"I'm glad to see you too," he said. "If you want to go ahead and hop in the shower, I'll bring you a towel in a few minutes when they're done in the dryer."

"You are a wonderful man and I adore you," she said, leaning in to kiss him again before heading back to the bathroom, walking briskly to avoid dripping mud on the carpet.

It was only a few minutes until the laundry was done, and Steve grabbed a warm, fluffy towel from the dryer. He smiled to himself as he approached the bathroom—Peggy was singing something, a little off-key but very enthusiastically. He thought it might be Taylor Swift. He knocked loudly before stepping into the steam-filled bathroom. "Got your towel," he said. "I'm setting it on the counter."

"Thank you, darling," she replied, pausing in her singing. "I won't be a minute."

"Take your time," he told her. "I've got a hot date tonight, but I don't have to leave for a little while."

She laughed merrily and resumed her singing.

Back in the kitchen, Steve finished with the dishes quickly, then cleaned off her shield and boots. He'd been planning to put up some Christmas decorations before she got back, and he wondered if he could get anything up while she was still in the shower, but then he heard the water switch off. "That was fast," he told her as she padded back into the living room in her fuzzy slippers and bathrobe.

"Well, I needed to be clean," she told him. "But I also needed to do this." She threw her arms around him and kissed him soundly, and Steve went up on his toes and wrapped his arms around her neck and kissed her back.

"I missed you," he told her when they broke apart. This one had been a short mission, but there had been a lot of short missions lately, interspersed with a couple of big ones, and he hadn't gotten to see much of her in a while.

"I missed you too," she told him. She reached up to straighten his glasses that had gotten knocked askew in the kissing. "But I'm back now and I'm very excited for our date this evening."

Steve smiled. "Me too."

"You're not wearing that, are you?" she teased. She was often amused by his variety of graphic t-shirts, and while his Mixed Martial Arts and Crafts shirt with a picture of a ninja knitting a sweater on it was one of her favorites, it might be a tad out of place at an upscale restaurant.

"No," he laughed, pointing at the garment bag hanging over a chair by his shopping bags. "There's an actual suit in there."

She laughed, kissed him again, then pulled away. "I should start getting ready." She winked. "Wait until you see the dress I bought for tonight."

Steve grinned and shooed her back toward her bedroom. She'd just shut the door to her bedroom when his phone started vibrating in his pocket. "Hello?" he said. His smile fell as he listened to the voice on the other end. "Ok. Sure. Thanks." He sighed and slid the phone back into his pocket, then moved to knock on Peggy's door. "Peggy?"

She opened the door, still in her robe and holding a hair dryer. "What is it?"

"The restaurant just called," he said. "They lost power and had to shut down for the night. They said they'd let us reschedule our reservation, but for tonight…"

"Oh, no!" she said. Her lips pursed thoughtfully. "I suppose we could go somewhere else. Even this close to Christmas, it is the middle of the week—it might not be _too_ difficult to get in somewhere else without a reservation."

"I don't think so," Steve said. He crossed back to the coffee table and picked up the remote, switching the TV back to the weather. "They said it was the snow that got their power lines, and…" He nodded at the TV. The weathermen were talking over footage of snow-covered streets and blocked roads. An information ribbon was running along the bottom listing all the subway stations that were closed. "Looks like the storm is shutting the city down. I don't think we're going anywhere tonight." He sighed, then hit 'mute' and turned back to Peggy. "I can cook something, though. We can still have a nice dinner here."

Peggy nodded, though she looked incredibly disappointed.

"I'm not that bad of a cook," Steve teased.

"Oh! No, I'm sorry, I just…"

"What's the matter?" Steve asked, stepping closer and taking her hand.

She sighed heavily. "I was really looking forward to tonight," she told him. "I've been so busy lately, we've barely seen each other all month. I feel like I've been neglecting you, and—"

"Peggy, I don't mind," Steve assured her, squeezing her hand. "You're out there saving the world, and that's important, and I'm proud of you. I'm not sitting around moping because you're off saving lives instead of eating takeout and watching TV with me."

She smiled at him fondly. "Oh, I know," she said. "I just…" She frowned, trying to figure out how to say what she wanted to. "This job, it just, it wears on you after a while. I'm not sure you realize just how much of a bright spot coming home and getting to do normal-person things with you is. And I haven't gotten to do that in so long, I think I was really building up tonight and the chance to do something special. That's all."

"Aw, Peggy, I'm sorry." Steve always enjoyed the chance to go out with her and do something fun, but he hadn't realized she'd been looking forward to this night out so much.

"It's alright," she told him. "I suppose I should be used to plans changing by now." She smiled again. "And I get to spend my evening with you, which was really all I wanted." She leaned forward and kissed him. "Please don't think I'm disappointed in that."

He smiled. "I don't. I'm sure we can figure something out for tonight. If nothing else, I made Christmas cookies."

Peggy chuckled. "You are a dear." She kissed his cheek and straightened back up. "Just let me go and change, and we'll work something out."

Steve nodded, and she went back into her bedroom and shut the door. He bit his lip thoughtfully, and an idea struck him just as he heard her hairdryer roar to life. It may not be an evening at a fancy restaurant, but if she wanted something special, he could do that.

Peggy's hair was long and thick, so it took a while to dry, and Steve figured he had about half an hour before she came back out. The oven was still warm from the cookies, so he turned it back on and slid a few things inside, then got to work in the living room. A little over halfway through, he realized Peggy was either going to think this was really sweet or really silly, but he was committed now, so he may as well finish.

He'd just finished with the last strand of lights when he heard the hair dryer go off. Perfect timing. He stepped into the kitchen to turn the oven off and get the hot water going, and he heard Peggy's door creak open. "What's all this?" she asked.

"Okay," he said, coming out of the kitchen. She was standing there with dry hair wearing an over-sized t-shirt and leggings and looking adorably cozy, frowning curiously at the state of her living room. "I know it looks ridiculous from the back, but come around and look at it from over here."

Arching a skeptical eyebrow, Peggy stepped around to where Steve was standing. He flipped the lights back off, leaving the room lit only by the strings of Christmas lights. In front of them was a blanket fort Steve had built by raiding Peggy's linen closet and draping the blankets over the couch and a couple of chairs from the dining table. The inside was lined with pillows and a couple more blankets, and it was glowing warm and welcoming with the little white lights strung across the top and the entrance.

"I know it's kind of silly," Steve said when Peggy continued to stare without saying anything. "But it seemed nice and cozy, and I made some snacks and tea and hot chocolate, and I brought a couple of Christmas movies I thought maybe we could watch." He shrugged. "I wanted to try to give you something special, and this seemed more memorable than a regular dinner."

He gasped in surprise as Peggy's hands clamped around his arms and hoisted him almost a foot off the ground to kiss him so hard he nearly forgot his own name. Her eyes were sparkling in the lights when she pulled away. "Steven Grant Rogers, you are the most wonderful man I've ever met."

Steve chuckled a little breathlessly. "Guess you like it, huh?"

"I do," she told him. "Although not half as much as I adore you." She kissed him again and set him back down on his feet. "This is lovely. Thank you."

Steve smiled up at her. "You're welcome."

"So, I believe you said something about snacks?"

"Yeah," Steve said, heading back to the kitchen. "Come help me carry it in, and then we'll pick a movie."

Peggy got a tray down from above the fridge, and Steve starting setting out plates of snacks and popcorn. "I know it's kind of a random mix," he said, nodding at the pizza bites, spring rolls, and chicken nuggets. "But this is what was in your freezer, and it's all finger food, which seems good for a movie."

"I think it will work very well," Peggy said, pulling dipping sauces from the fridge.

"So, did your mission go okay?" Steve asked her, setting out mugs for tea and hot chocolate. She was home alive and safe, but the news had been scarce on actual details.

"It did," Peggy said, snatching a chicken nugget off the plate and popping it in her mouth. "I can give you all the details if you like, but there wasn't particularly anything out of the ordinary."

Steve arched an eyebrow at her. "Nothing out of the ordinary? Peggy, you threw an alligator at a guy."

Peggy blinked in surprise. "How did you know that?"

"It was on the news."

"Oh. Yes, I suppose I did do that. I needed something to throw and it was the nearest thing at hand."

"That is so going into the next issue," Steve told her with a grin.

"You've already got the next issue storyboarded—I've seen it. _And_ it's already been approved by Sam."

"I'll fit it in somewhere," he insisted. "You threw an alligator at someone, Peggy. An _alligator._ "

She narrowed her eyes at him. "You're going to make a thing about this, aren't you?"

"Yes," Steve said with a grin. "It's even Christmas time—I could make a special issue! Peggy and the Christmas Alligator."

"I don't see what the big deal is," Peggy protested.

"It's ridiculous," Steve said. "Even more than you throwing motorcycles at Nazis."

"Motorcycle," Peggy corrected. "I have only done that once."

"Ridiculous," Steve said again.

Peggy rolled her eyes.

"And also awesome," Steve said. "My girl is so strong she just casually tosses alligators at bad guys; how amazing is that?"

Peggy laughed. "I promise to only do it on special occasions so as not to take the magic out of it." She leaned forward and kissed the tip of Steve's nose. "But for now, wasn't I promised snacks and a Christmas movie?"

Steve grinned and picked up one of the trays. Peggy picked up the other and followed, and they settled into the fort. "Have you seen any of these?" he asked, pulling out the DVDs he'd brought. Peggy had, understandably, missed a lot of pop culture while she'd been frozen, and what she'd caught up on and what she hadn't was a mishmash with a pattern Steve had yet to detect.

"No," Peggy said, looking them over. "You pick one. I generally trust your tastes."

"Generally?" Steve asked, arching a curious eyebrow.

"You put olives on your pizza. That alone makes me wonder sometimes if I should date you."

Steve stuck his tongue out at her. "You always get your own pizza anyway. My olives don't contaminate it."

"But I know they're there."

"Well, it's awfully good of you to put up with me, then."

"It really is," Peggy agreed, taking a prim sip of her tea. "Now are you going to pick a movie or not?"

Steve laughed and shook his head. "How about this one?" He picked up The Muppet's Christmas Carol. "I've watched it every Christmas since I was a kid. It's a classic."

"Oh, I had to read A Christmas Carol in school," Peggy said.

"This one's a musical with puppets, so it's probably a little different than the version you remember," Steve said with a smile.

"It sounds fun," Peggy said. "And I do have a passing familiarity with the Muppets, thanks to Tony. Let's go with that one." Steve got up to put the DVD in the player, then grabbed the remotes before sitting back down. Peggy was unfolding a blanket, settling it around her shoulders. When he sat down, she reached out to catch him in the blanket and tug him against her side. "Oh, yes," she said, kissing the top of his head. "This is wonderfully cozy."

Steve kissed the side of her face, then shifted to get a little more comfortable and pull the tray of snacks closer. As the movie started, he didn't realize he was humming along to the opening song until Peggy chuckled. "Sorry," he said.

"Don't be," she assured him. "It's cute."

Steve watched Peggy watch the movie, hoping she was enjoying it, but he kept getting drawn back in to the old, familiar storyline. The songs and the characters and the little jokes, it was all familiar and felt like home, and he was glad he got to share it with Peggy.

Peggy certainly seemed to be enjoying it. She laughed merrily at all the jokes, and commented on the variety and cleverness of the different puppets. "I think if I had had this version in school, I would have paid much more attention," she said. "Although, there are probably a lot of things that could be improved by the addition of a comedy relief blue puppet."

"They do Treasure Island too, you know," Steve pointed out.

"Oh, we'll have to do that one later!" Peggy said. "That sounds fun."

They ate their way through the snacks, watching Scrooge's journey with the ghosts. "You watched this as a child?" Peggy asked when the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come appeared. Steve looked up to see her arching an eyebrow at him. "Did you sleep after seeing that thing?"

Steve chuckled. "Not always very well," he admitted.

"No puppet has any right to be that terrifying," Peggy said.

The movie carried on, and Peggy got quiet as the scene unfolded in the Cratchit house. At the line about Tiny Tim's grave being in a spot where he could watch the ducks on the river—a line that always made Steve get a little misty-eyed—he heard the slightest little sniffle from Peggy. He looked up to see her blinking rapidly, clearing moisture from her eyes, and he cinched his arm a little more tightly around her waist.

The movie carried on, and soon all was right with the story again. There was moisture glinting in Peggy's eyes again at the end as Tiny Tim declared, "God bless us! Everyone!", but it was accompanied by a wide smile. "That was lovely, darling," Peggy said as the end credits began to roll. She hugged him closer to her and kissed the side of his face. "Thank you for sharing that with me."

"I'm glad you liked it," he said, stretching up a little to kiss her back. "Do you want to watch another one?"

"In a minute," she said, looping her other arm around him to hold him in place. "I'm quite comfortable here."

Steve smiled and snuggled in closer to her. "Christmas music?" he asked, sliding one hand into his pocket to pull out his phone.

"Ooh, yes, that sounds nice."

Steve pulled up something soft and jazzy, then set his phone on the coffee table and snuggled back in against Peggy. For a while they just sat there, holding onto each other and listening to the music.

"I'm glad you're back," Steve told her.

"I am too," she said. "I'm sorry I've been away for so long."

"Don't be," Steve said. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I like it better when you're here than when you're not, but when you are gone, you're out there saving the world. I can't be mad about that."

"Well, you could, but I'm glad you're not," Peggy said with a smile.

"I am real proud of you, though," Steve told her.

Peggy smiled and cupped his cheek, pulling his face up to hers and kissing him warmly. "Thank you, my darling," she whispered.

They kissed for a while longer, then snuggled back down a little more horizontally against the pillows, warm and cozy and content. Peggy tugged the blanket a little more tightly around them, then raised one hand to card lazy fingers through Steve's hair. It felt like heaven, and though Steve did allow his eyelids to drift downwards, he wasn't actually aware of falling asleep until he woke up a little later. His phone was still playing Christmas music, and Peggy was asleep now too, still holding on to him tightly. Steve was perfectly content to just stay there forever, and he smiled and closed his eyes again.

The next time he woke up, he was alone on the pile of pillows inside the fort, still tucked under the blanket. Someone had taken his glasses and shoes off. He sat up, blinking blearily around the room, then Peggy materialized out of the haze.

"Good morning, darling," she said, sitting down beside him and tucking herself back underneath the blanket with him. "Sorry to wake you."

"You look like an angel," Steve told her, still a little too asleep to stop the words just falling out at the sight of her shining in the glowy haze of pre-dawn light filling the room.

She smiled and stretched her arm around him to pull him back against her side.

"Where'd you go?" he wondered.

"I just needed to fetch something," she said, kissing the top of his head. "Don't worry about it. You can go back to sleep."

"I can stay awake with you."

"It's 6:30 in the morning, darling," she said, kissing his lips this time. "You're welcome to stay up, but I'm going back to sleep."

Steve smiled and kissed her, then leaned his head against her shoulder. Her fingers were moving in his hair again, and he was out like a light.

The next time he woke up, Peggy was still in his arms, and it was actually daylight. She was watching him with that smile that made him feel like the most important person in the world, and her fingers were still stroking his hair.

"I thought you were going back to sleep?" he asked her.

"I did," she replied. "It's the first day off I've had in ages; I wasn't going to get up before dawn if I didn't have to. I've only been awake for a few minutes."

"So you were just watching me sleep?" Steve wondered. Not that he was complaining. She was still holding on to him, and there was nowhere he felt as safe or as comfortable as he did in her arms.

"Yes," she replied with a cheeky little grin.

Steve smiled and sat up a little straighter, and Peggy reached over to the coffee table to pick up his glasses. "Thanks," he said as she handed them over.

"You're welcome," she said. "And thank you again for last night."

"I know it wasn't much—" he began.

"It's one of the sweetest things anyone has ever done for me," Peggy said. "Much more memorable than a night out, and it was just so very thoughtful, and lovely, and… _you_."

Steve smiled, feeling color rising in his cheeks.

"And it got me thinking," Peggy went on before he could figure out what to say. "I used to run so many missions all the time because I didn't know what else to do with myself in this century, and I didn't really like being home because there was nothing to do but think. But now that you're here…I actually enjoy coming home now. I look forward to it. Because you're always here waiting for me."

Steve was staring at her in awe, trying to keep his mouth from dropping open.

"And I always want to come home to you," Peggy went on. "For the rest of my life. I was saving this for Christmas Day, actually, or maybe New Year's, or…some other time when it felt right. But I can't think of a better time than this, so…" She turned and reached underneath her pillow and pulled out a little box. When she flipped it open, the gold band inside sparkled in the light. "Steve Rogers, will you marry me?"

This time Steve's jaw actually did drop open.

Peggy chuckled a little as he stared, though a worried little furrow started appearing in her brow the longer he did it. "I know it's not very traditional," she said. "I didn't think that would bother you, but if I've overstepped…"

At that point it occurred to Steve that he hadn't actually said anything yet. "No," he stammered. What remained of her smile fell completely away, and Steve realized he should have said any word but that one. "I mean no, it's not overstepping!" he hurried to clarify. "I…you…I don't remember how to speak English," he said, and she laughed. All the words he knew seemed to be gone. "I didn't…I feel like…" Considering that the most amazing woman in the world had just asked him to marry her, he felt like he should be saying something more profound. Nothing was coming to mind, though, so he should probably just answer her before she changed her mind.

"Hell, yes, I'll marry you," he blurted, and she laughed again and leaned forward and kissed him.

Steve's head was still spinning when they pulled apart, and Peggy smiled at him warmly and reached up to straighten his glasses. "I can't believe you said no," Peggy laughed.

"I didn't mean it like that!" he insisted and she laughed even harder. He attempted to narrow his eyes at her in mock displeasure, but it was hard because he was smiling so widely. "I just woke up and I was surprised. Ask me again and I'll be a lot more eloquent."

"I don't think I will," Peggy said. "I very much liked the enthusiasm of your answer, once you actually got to it."

Steve blushed a little bit, but chuckled. "You really want to marry me?" he asked, still in awe.

"I really do," Peggy said. She reached forward and brushed his hair back behind his ear, her fingers trailing down his jaw as she pulled them back. "I love you, my darling."

Steve melted like he always did when she called him that, and he leaned forward and took her face in his hands, cupping her cheeks and kissing her long and slow and good. "I love you too," he breathed.

She gave him that smile like he was the most important person in the world again, kissed the tip of his nose, and pulled him in close against her. "I have no idea if that's going to fit," she said, nodding at the ring box she'd set on the coffee table when they'd started kissing. "It will probably have to be resized. But I needed to have something to ask with."

Steve laughed. "Even if it needs resizing, it's perfect." He laughed again. "I'm going to have to get you a much nicer Christmas present now."

She grinned. "You've already said yes. Hard to get much better than that."

* * *


End file.
